


People like us

by FandomsShipsandFeelsOhMY



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-20 14:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomsShipsandFeelsOhMY/pseuds/FandomsShipsandFeelsOhMY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were Misfits. They were alone. But the thing about that is, when a group of people have something in common, they tend to gravitate towards each other. So maybe they won't have to be so alone after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Warning: This story will contain Bullying, Racism, Self harm, and Mentions of Suicide. If any of these are major triggers for you I suggestion to reconsider reading this.

Ray Narvaez Jr. was a very quiet kid. He stuck to his corners and didn’t get in anyone’s way. He was basically a wall flower to the extreme. In his mind, this would warrant him to left alone, isolated, forgotten, but to the kids in his school, apparently not. On a good day, the sophomore would make it to his class uneventfully. He’d go to his seat in the corner of the room, pull out his gaming magazine, and quietly read until the teacher started class. Ray liked those days, he lived for those days. In contrast, on normal days, he’d get shoved around on his way to class, have profanities and slurs shouted at him, and made a fool of, all before the first bell even rang. These were how most of his days went. He hated these days, he wished he could make all these piss poor excuses of a day disappear without a trace. But he can’t, so he doesn’t ponder his misery and just gets on with his day. Today, as Ray gets off the bus and heads to the school building, was going to be a normal day, he could already tell. If it wasn’t for the fact people in the halls were already giving him malicious and mocking grins, it was because despite how he attracted every eye he passed, no one said a single word to him.

“What the hell has everyone in such a giddy mood,” he mutters under his breath as he walks past a bunch of girls who giggle wickedly as he passes them. He sighs a little. “I’m not sure I really want to know.” However, he quickly figured out what had put the student body in such a good mood as he reached his locker. He stopped, shell shocked, as he stares at his vandalized locker. Covering the locker’s entire surface in big, black, spray painted letters was:

**GO BACK TO MEXICO**

Slowly Ray puts in his combination, dully aware of the snickers and whispers behind him. He opens it and is instantly covered in an avalanche of papers and taco bell wrappers. Most of the papers he sees has some sort of derogatory term like “Why don’t you go mow someone’s grass” or “Take a shower, dirty Mexican”. Ray crumples the paper and whirls around to glare at the crowd of teenagers behind him.

“Who did this!?” He demands, eyes racking the crowd as they continue to watch him in clearly exposed mirth.

“What does it matter who did it, what are you going to do about it little Ray.” Taunted a football player who was leaning against one of the lockers with his cohorts.

“I...I’ll-”

“What is going on here,” Cried some teacher’s shrill voice. She pushes her way through the crowd and gapes at the huge paper mess caused by Ray’s locker. “Mr. Narvaez, this mess is unacceptable! Clean it up right now!”

“But I-”

“No buts young man, you’re lucky I’m letting you off with just a warning!” She snaps, her beady eyes glaring at Ray. “As for the rest of you, get off to class! The bell will be ringing any minute now and you all will be late!” With that the crowd disperses and the teacher waddles off to her classroom. The guy who had called Ray out passes by him with a smug smirk and roughly knocks into him with his shoulder, causing Ray to let out a soft grunt.

“You heard her Narvaez, clean this mess up. It shouldn’t be that hard, it’s what you Mexican’s are good for after all.” His friends laugh loudly at his “joke” and all knock in to Ray as they pass by, making sure to kick and scatter the papers where they could. Ray glares after the group with hatred, and flips them off as they round the corner, leaving Ray completely alone in the hall way.

“Shows what they know those ignorant ass holes, I’m Puerto Rican.” Slowly he began the dauntless task of gathering up all the hate filled notes and trash that came tumbling out of his locker. Arms full of papers, he walks over to the trash can that was, thankfully, near his locker to throw away the first pile of notes. When he turns around to get his second pile, however, he freezes in his place. Ray was no longer alone in the hallway, instead there was someone new collecting the paper and trash from the floors. He was tall and gangly looking, with crazy brown hair and a dopey smile on his face. Ray’s eyes narrow in irritation and suspicion as he approaches the strange student. “What are you doing?” He demands, and when the other looks up Ray notes he has green eyes that shine with excitement reminiscent of a puppy.

“I’m helping you clean” came his accented reply.

“Why? What are you trying to do? You guys already played your little joke, ok. Just let me clean this crap up so I can get to class.” The stranger pouts and shakes his head.

“No way, this is a lot to clean up by yourself!” Ray growls and rips the papers from his hands.

“Listen, I’ve dealt with people like you for so long and I’m literally done. I’m done with you guys making me look like a fool, done with all your bigoted remarks, I am so done! So please, let me clean this up so I can go home and be done with this.” He goes to stand up and throw the papers away but is stopped when the other grabs his wrist.

“What do you mean “go home and be done with this”?” He asks, and if Ray didn’t know better, which he does, he would have sworn he sounded and looked…sincerely concerned.

“None of your business” he snaps, ripping his wrist from his grasp and heading over to the trash can to throw the trash away. When he walks back over he chooses to ignore him and the sad look on his face in favor of finish up cleaning the papers on the ground. After a few moments of silence he sees the burnets footsteps slowly recede into the distance. Ray lets out a relieved sigh and sits against a locker. “Thank god he left” he mumbles, looking straight ahead but not really seeing anything. He was done, just so done. What was the point anymore? School used to be a great place, a place where he could hang out and learn new things and get free food. But now it was pure hell and Ray didn’t know how much more he could take…that was a lie, he knew exactly how much more he could handle and his limit had gone over the edge today with this stupid locker prank. He looks down at the notes in his hands, slowly reading through each one of them:

_“How high was the fence you jumped to get into this country?”_

_“Hey Narvaez, show me your green card and maybe I won’t call boarder control on you!”_

_“Tell me Narvaez, how many people do you have living in that tiny little house of yours? 20, maybe 30?”_

_“Why don’t you get the fuck out of here and work at McDonalds? It’s better suited for you anyways!”_ He crumples them up and throws them to the floor in a fit of anger. Was there no good people left in the world? Were they all like this? If so…what’s the point of being in a world like this? Maybe he should just…

“Here we go!” says a way too cheerful voice for the thoughts he was thinking. A bucket filled with water and two wash cloths were set down in front of him. Ray looks at them then up at the strange green eyed boy from earlier.

“I thought you left.”

“I thought I told you this was too much work for one person to do.” He says with a smirk and a wink. The other gathers up the remaining trash and throws it away, he turns back around to Ray and flashes him a large grin and a thumbs up. “Got all that trash out of the way, now let’s see what we can do about that idiocy on your locker.

“Hey! Wait a minute. Who the hell are you-”

“I’m Gavin!” he says cheerily and shakes his hand vigorously. “And you’re Ray, right? Nice to meet you!” Ray blinks and gapes for a minute before taking his hand back.

“Now listen here Gavin, I told you that-” Gavin completely ignores him as he slams the locker closed and looks at the words on it with distaste.

“Well isn’t that rude!” Gavin says, before reaching for a wash cloth and starting the task of washing away the dark ink.

“Hey I-”

“But don’t worry, it should be easy to come off. It looks like they used the cheap stuff!” Ray grinds his teeth, he’s had enough!

“Listen! I’m done! There’s no point anymore so stop mocking me! You guys won, ok!” He says, voice growing thick with emotion. “I don’t want to do this anymore, I quit. So please…” He blinks his eyes rapidly to push back tears as he glares at Gavin. Gavin stops in his cleaning, not looking or speaking to Ray. They stay like this for a while before Gavin finally breaks the silence.

“Don’t say that” he says softly.

“What do you mean “don’t say that”!? It’s how I feel! There’s no point-”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong! There is always a point.” He smiles over at him. “Everyone has a “point”, Ray. And while right now it might seem nonexistent, it’s still very much there.”

“No-”

“Oi, don’t interrupt you knob” Gavin laughs and Ray stares at him in confusion.

“What the fuck’s a-”

“Not important!” He cuts in. “Back to the matter at hand. You have a “point”. I know it’s hard to believe it, but I’m going to say it anyways, life’s so much bigger out of high school. Not everyone’s a complete tosser like the plebs here are. Once you’re out there, you get to see that you have an impact somewhere, and some way, and it’ll feel really freaking great! I’m sure of it!”

“As nice as a theory that is, Gavin, I highly doubt that’s true.” Ray sighs.

“Well,” Gavin looks back at the words that are still legible on the Puerto Rican’s locker, and his expressions softens in an emotion Ray can’t identify. “You’re right in some aspects” he says softly, gently running his index finger alongside the lettering. “The world’s cruel and harsh, and once you graduate this won’t be the last time you hear from people like this.” He looks back at Ray, and this time his smile seems far more earnest than the big grin he had earlier. “But, you’ll also meet some pretty amazing people that will cancel out all the shitty people.”

“You don’t know that.” Gavin shrugs and turns back to the words.

“I suppose in a way I don’t. But I know for certain that you’ll meet one person in your life that will make dealing with everyone else worth it. Being alive and being with that person and enjoying their company, that will out shine all the hardship you’ll have to go through on a daily bases. Life is long, and hard, and a bitch, but…but it’s not all bad. As cliché as I might sound, it’s like a rainbow. You only get to experience it’s beauty after the rain.” His skeptical brown eyes meet sincere green ones. “That’s why you can’t quit, that’s why you have a “point”. You can’t just say you’re done because that would be selfish for everyone in the future that will be affected by your “point”. It’ll get better, you’ll leave these idiots to live here and you’ll go on to do bigger and better things.” Gavin laughs and smile over at him. “Or maybe you’ll find your exception to the “everyone is an asshole” rule, maybe you’ll find your “point”! Either way, in the end, if you come above all this ignorant nonsense, you’ll end up happy.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t. You just have to believe it is.” He pauses, glancing back and forth between the writing and Ray. “Tell you what, let’s be friends. I know I’m probably just some weirdo that’s spouting nonsense, but hear me out. Friends have each other to lean on, right? So I’ll be there for you, when you feel like this. When you’re done and you lose sight of your “point”. I promise to be by your side to hit you upside the head and tell you just a little bit longer, ok” Gavin drops the wash cloth back into the bucket and turns to fully face Ray. He holds out his hand and looks at him with hopeful and well meaning eyes. Ray stares at him and his outstretched hand with conflicting emotions. It was stupid to trust him. People were cruel, they made cruel remarks, they bring him to his breaking point and then some. But he found himself desperately wanting to trust Gavin, wanting someone that he knew, no matter what, he could confide in.

Above all else at the moment, he wanted a friend.

So, very hesitantly, and with guarded eyes, he takes his hand and shakes it. “Sure, friends.” Gavin’s goofy grin was back as he lets out a joyous whoop.

“Awesome! X-Ray and Vav!” He sings out.

“X- Ray and what?” He asks, blinking at the childlike teen.

“X-Ray and Vav! It can be our nicknames! Like superheroes, you know!” Ray opens his mouth, trying to come up with some retort, but ends up laughing and shaking his head.

“Sure, X-Ray and Vav to the rescue.” Gavin laughs as well then bends down to take both wash cloths, keeping one for himself and handing one to Ray.

“For our first act of justice how ‘bout we clean these ugly marking that some fiend left on your locker!” Gavin says, imitating a heroic pose and making Ray laugh.

“Sure thing Vav,” Ray says, following Gavin’s lead and striking a pose. “One bit of justice at a time, then we can spray paint roses all over that horrible villains locker if we have the time.”

“That’d be top!” Gavin laughs, nudging Ray playfully with his shoulder. “But first things first, heroic locker clean up, ago!” He shouts and starts ferociously scrubbing at the locker. Ray laughs some more before copying Gavin’s motions.

Now, Ray Narvaez Jr. still had his days where people were cruel and unchanging, and he still had those days where nearly everyone forgot he was there. The only difference now is he had great days, which were everyday, good or “normal”, because he had Vav at his side to help fight any villains that tried to take him down. And together, he feels, they can find their “point”.


	2. Damned

Michael was a very calm individual. He was smart, funny, and had a good head on his shoulders. He hardly ever lost his cool, choosing to use sarcasm as his come backs instead of screaming his head off. Yes, he defiantly never yelled til’ his throat was raw. That was simply uncivilized. He was always, completely, Calm-

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STARING AT!?” Michael screams at two freshmen girls who had been staring intently at him for the last five minutes. The girl’s eyes go wide and they squeak in fear before quickly running of, afraid of what the boy might do if they tested him. He glowers after them, only relaxing his glare to a mild irritated look once they were out of his sight….So maybe that first part had been a lie. But could you blame him? The entire school was made up of stupid assholes that had nothing better to do with their time than provoke him. Honestly, he didn’t like getting angry, and most the time he was able to control it very well. He blames it on this stupid school and their ability to spread rumors faster than fire on dried out grass. Michael had never been an extremely extroverted person, he wasn’t exactly shy, but he didn’t really put his all into meeting new people. His aloofness coupled with the fact that his default face when he was unsure or uncomfortable, which was the better part of a month when he first started school, was to scowl didn’t exactly help his situation. Which is why everyone now thought he was some scary rage demon when he really wasn’t. Normally he’s really chill, and easy to hang around, but no one bothered to get to know that Michael, no, they all instantly judged him based on that stupid rumor and now he has no one.

“Probably for the best,” he mutters, readjusting his beanie. “People can be annoying as hell sometimes.” He pulls out his phone and checks the time. “Should head home I guess.” He sighs, stuffing the phone back in his pocket and getting off the wall he was leaning against to began his journey home. He drags his feet across the pavement, kicking rocks as he comes across them, in a general apathetic mood like always. Just then his phone begins to sing in his pocket and he pulls it out and answers it. “Hello?”

“ _Hey sweetie, I have to work late again tonight so you’ll be on your own for dinner today._ ” Michael retrains the urge to groan into the phone.

“Yeah mom, that’s fine.” There was a long silence of the line.

_“You’re ok, yeah? Doing fine?”_

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” He says with a roll of his eyes.

_“It’s just we don’t get to talk very often, Michael, if anything’s bothering you, anything at all, tell me.”_ Michael stops walking and swallows hard. Should he tell her? Tell her how kids at school were terrified of him and how it’s become a game of “who can get the freak the maddest” between some of the boys in his year.

“Well, I-”

_“Hold on a minute,”_ Michael stops and scowls at nothing with mild annoyance. He could hear his mother and someone in the background talking in muffled voices before his mother finally picks the phone back up. _“Sorry, we’ll have to talk later I really need to go.”_

“It’s fine, it wasn’t important anyways,” he replies nonchalantly, ignoring the slight disappointment of her brushing him off.

_“Are you sure?”_

“Totally, I’ll see you tonight or something.”

_“Uh yeah,”_ she says distractedly, he hears her talk some more to the person who was currently with her, then she turns her attention back to him. _“Love you, see you later.”_

“Yeah, love you too mom.” He says, hanging up and stuffing the phone back in his pocket. He doesn’t move at first, instead he just stands there and stares at nothing, a thousand and one emotions running through his mind and body at the moment. “It’s nothing, mom, nothing.” Was all he said, bottling up the growing feeling of distress that threatened to break through, and continuing on his way home.

He was quickly approaching his neighborhood when he felt something hit the back of his head. He frowns in confusion and rubs the back of his head but doesn’t think anything of it. Until it happened again…and again…and again… and who the hell is throwing shit at him! He spins around to see several boys and a girl a few feet back giggle as if this was fucking hysterical to them.

“No, Jimmy, stop,” squealed the girl. “He’ll get angry, please.” Jimmy, at least a foot taller than Michael and ten times as wide, just snorts and lobs another pebble at the easily angered teen, this time it hitting him directly in the forehead.

“Do you mind” he growls, rubbing his forehead.

“No,” snickered Jimmy’s equally as fit, though shorter, cohort, him throwing a stone that barely missed Michael’s eye.

“Cut it out.” He snaps, his fist clenching involuntarily.

“Fucking make us” Said the final one, he was about the same build and height as Michael, but the fact he was constantly surrounded by his large friends managed to make him to look somewhat intimidating. This guy chucked a rock hard at Michael, who ducked it and looked back as it clanged loudly against a street lamp. He clenches his jaw tightly, trying his best to combat the rage that was begging to be released. All he needed was to be calm, don’t give these dumbasses the satisfaction of you yelling, just calm down and…

“Look how fucking red he’s getting,” laughed one of the guys.

“Ha! Look at his face, is he going to cry. Yeah, this guys a real fucking rage monster.”

“Come on Mikey Wikey, aren’t you going to yell at us?” mocked the last of the male trio.

Fuck it.

“FUCKING ASS HOLES!” He screams, his voice cracking a little, as he picks up a rock and lobs it at the largest ones head, causing a small trickle of blood to stream down his forehead. The girl gasps and the other two males look at their friend in shock as he slowly brings his hand to his forehead and touches it. He pulls it away to see the smear of red on his finger. His eyes instantly target Michael and he growls low in his throat.

“You asked for it now.” He motions for his gang to follow his league and they slowly approach Michael, quickly circling and enclosing him in. Now if Michael could say one thing that was not his strong suite, it was fighting. Sure, he had a pair of lungs on him and he wasn’t afraid to use them, but he wasn’t exactly the best at hand to hand combat and generally tried to avoid it when he can. Today, however, was not one of those days. Michael tenses his body up and spreads his legs in effort to better support himself in case of the guys surrounding him lunged at him suddenly. His brown eyes watch each one of them like a hawk as they got into sight and his brows furrowed downward in a nasty scowl. He might get his ass kicked, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. “Drew!” Demanded Jimmy. Upon command Drew came up behind Michael, hooked his arms under his pits, and gripped tightly to keep him secured there. Michael kicked around frantically as Jimmy approached with a malicious smirk on his face. Drawing back his arm he socks Michael hard in the face, cause one of the lenses of his glasses to crack and his eye to swell. Michael lets out a rouge scream and swings his head back hard, making contact with Drew’s face and hearing a satisfying crack. He does look back at the boy now crying out in pain but turns his body where he can see both of the boys still in the fight.

“That’s the best you can do!? Hold me down while the other beats on me!? Fucking losers!” He yells as his gaze shifts between them. Jimmy sneers in annoyance.

“Elliot!” Elliot steps forward and puffs out his chest, trying to appear bigger than Michael. The Jersey boy rolls his eyes and swings an arm forward, connecting it with Elliot’s jaw. The boy stumbles back and grips his injured jaw, staring at Michael in shock.

“You little fucker!” He yells, charging at Michael and running him into a lamp post. Michael wrestles with him for a bit before successfully pushing him off and throwing him off balance. With Elliot trying to regain his foot, Michael brings his arm back and hits him again, this time sending him spiraling to the ground where he stayed groaning a bit. Michael focuses him attention back on Jimmy and strides confidently towards him, this being the best he’s ever done in a fight. Jimmy scowls and steps back as Michael grows nearer.

“Where’s your little crew now? It’s just you and me. How good do you think your chances are, huh?” Michael’s confidence is short lived however as he feels something hard come in contact with the back of his head, knocking him to the floor. Michael blinks back the black dots in his vision as he looks up to see Jimmy smirking down at him, next to him was Drew with a bloody, crooked nose yet a victorious grin.

“I think their pretty high” answers Jimmy as he kicks Michael hard in the gut. He groans and curls into a ball but it’s no use as Jimmy turns him onto his back, straddles him, and lays into him. Michael tries his best to fend off the blows but is unsuccessful. He vaguely hears police sirens, a stern voice, and the thugs surrounding him run off as he lays there, barely enough energy to think.

“Hey, are you ok?” Asked a soft voice next to him. He sounded weird, that accent certainly wasn’t from America. Michael looks over to see a worried looking boy about his age, with expressive green eyes and chaotic hair that made Michael want run his hand through it in attempt to make it sit down properly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He croaks, and very slowly and painfully sits up.

“Oh, you shouldn’t move just yet,” Worried the other. “They really did a number on you, it looks painful, how about I call someone.” Michael scowls at him despite how much it hurt.

“No, just go away, I’m fine. It’s nothing some ice packs and bandages won’t fix.”

“I don’t know…”

“I’m fine” he snaps, irritation growing. “Just leave me be.” The stranger purses his lips and pulls the stupidest face Michael has ever seen that just makes him want to hit him and laugh at the same time.

“If you insist on not seeing a doctor, then you have to at least let me help clean you up.” Michael grinds his teeth.

“I said-”

“It’s not up for negotiation,” he laughs, hopping to his feet and offering Michael a hand. “I’m going to help you wither you want me to or not.” Michael lets out and annoyed sigh before taking the hand and slowly managing to stand up.

“Fine, do whatever the fuck you want.”

“Top” he cheers, his eyes shining happily. “Now where’s your house, I’m sure it’s much closer than mine.”

“This way.” Michael grumbles, heading towards the direction of his house in as quick a pace he could manage in his current state. The guy squawks behind him and easily catches up, taking one of his arms and throwing it over his shoulder in an attempt for Michael to lean on him a little, which he absolutely does not do. Instead, he shrugs him off and pushes him far away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Aw, but why not! You’re injured and I’m trying to help!” He says in a whinny high pitched voice. Michael growls low in his throat.

“If you want to help, then start by not talking. You’re voice is annoying as hell.” The stranger’s eyes widen comically before he looks at his shoes dejectedly and slowly nods his head.

“If that’s what you want.” He mumbles softly. They walk in silence for a few feet, Michael chewing his lower lip as guilt takes over him. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh, he was helping him after all, and that’s more than anyone else has ever done for him. He lets out a long irritated sigh, making his counterpart look over at him curiously.

“God damn it! You can talk okay, just don’t go on and on, it gives me a headache.” He says, looking pointedly ahead of him.

“Really, my voice doesn’t annoy you!?” Michael pulls a face, and is about to come back with some snarky reply when he glances over and sees those sparkling green eyes again.

Damn it.

“No, not really.” That was all it took to put a skip back in his step, much to Michael’s annoyance. They finally arrive to his house and his companion looks up at the plain, two story house in child like awe.

“It’s so big” he gasps as Michael unlocks the door and enters. The stranger quickly stumbles in after him, still completely mesmerized by the place.

“No really, all these cookie cutter houses are really fucking small on the inside, you know.” He says with a shrug as he closes the door and takes off his shoes and back pack.

“I’d beg to differ, anyways, where’s your medical supplies? Dr. Free is now ready and reporting for duty!” Michael rolls his eyes and heads over to the kitchen, motioning for “Dr. Free” to follow him.

“So what’s your name anyways” he asks as he takes out the first aid kit and placing it on the table.

“Gavin,” he replies, pushing Michael softly down into a chair then searching for the proper supplies. “And I believe your name is Michael.”

“Yeah, I guess I really am well known around the school. Great” he says, voice dripping with sarcasm. Gavin laughs a little before examining some kitchen draws.

“Washcloths? Dish towels?” He asks.

“Third draw on the right.” Gavin nods and grabs a dish towel. After that he turns to the sink and wets it before finally venturing back over towards Michael.

“It’s not always a bad thing to be well known, you know.” He says, gingerly taking Michael cracked glasses off and setting them on the table.

“It is if you’re notoriously known for your anger.” He replies, wincing a bit as Gavin starts wiping carefully around his nose to clean the blood that surrounded it.

“I suppose” was all he said as he folds the towel over and wipes at the various cuts around his face. Michael watches Gavin as he works in silence, next him having put some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and dabbing it on Michael’s cuts.

“Ow,” he winces, frowning up at Gavin. “Stop it, that hurts.” Gavin just laughs and continues to work.

“Oh stop whining, you mingy little pleb.”

“What does that even mean!?” Michael shouts in exasperation, causing Gavin to laugh harder. For the final part of the treatment Gavin takes the band aids and starts applying them to areas that need them. Michael examines him for a second before he frowns down at his lap.

“Why are you here?” The hand movements on his forehead stop for a minute before resuming at their previously steady pace.

“Because you’re injured and I wanted to help.” Michael growled and swatted Gavin’s hands away.

“No, I want to know why you’re really here. No one ever comes ten feet of me unless it’s to mess with me. Why the fuck are you here, do plan on seeing how long it takes for the anger management freak to blow his top!?” He snaps, his voice steadily rising.

“No.”

“Then why are you here!?” Gavin smiles softly at him, causing a weird feeling to overtake him.

“Because I want to help you Michael.” Michael stands up quickly, sending his chair toppling backwards.

“Bull shit! People are either out to get me or they’re afraid of me! Which one are you!?”

“Well, I’m obviously not out to get you considering I’m helping patch you up.” He states calmly.

“Then you’re afraid of me!”

“No, that’s not it either. I’m certainly not afraid right now.” He smiles. Michael grinds his teeth and clenches and unclenches his fist in an attempt to control his already spiraling out of control anger.

“There’s no fucking in between Gavin!” Gavin laughs and shrugs.

“I guess that leaves me in a predicament then, huh?” Michael slams his fist against the table.

“You knew my name, you obviously know what they say about me! I yell and scream and you don’t want to fuck with me! I’m a fucking anger demon!” Gavin being so nonchalant was taking Michael over the edge and he was one step away from screaming at the brown haired boy.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Wha-!” He started to scream but stopped, thrown off my Gavin’s statement. “You don’t think that’s true?”

“Not one bit,” he smiles and shrugs. “I personally don’t think you like yelling, but it’s your fall back.” Gavin looks around the room. “Tell me Michael, do you live alone here? It’s awfully empty. What time do your parents get home?” He gapes for a second at how quickly the subject got changed.

“No, my mom and I live here together…though she normally works really late so I’m on my own most nights.” Gavin nods.

“Ah, I live alone in an apartment not too far from here. It’s freaking top, but…it get’s lonely.”

“What are you-”

“Tell me Michael, do you and your mum talk a lot? About school and stuff.”

“Well, I mean…” Michael scowls down at his feet. “Why are we even talking about this?! It’s irrelevant!”

“Is it though?” Michael looks up at him in disbelief.

“Yes, it fucking is!”

“You want to know my opinion on you Mi-Cool” he smiles broadly at him and Michael glowers in return.

“Sure Gavin, fucking enlighten me.” He says sarcastically.

“I don’t think you’re a rage demon or monster or whatever those idiots are calling you. I just think you’re an awkward little donut who doesn’t exactly know how to express his emotions right the first way. You never get to tell anyone, and it makes you feel alone and unimportant so to get people’s attention you yell and scream and hope they understand how you feel.”

“Oh please, I am not about to discuss my _feelings_ with some guy I met less than an hour ago.”

“No no, we’re not going to do that. But I do want you to do something.”

“What” he asks with a roll of his eyes.

“Yell at me.” Michael stares at him in confusion.

“What? What will that accomplish? You say I need to “express my feelings” but this will just be the way it always is, me screaming at someone until they cry or beat the crap out of me. And I’m currently not in the mood to experience either.”

“I’m not sure what this will accomplish but maybe it’ll make you feel better. So just yell at me. It could be about me, about someone else, about something that’s frustrating you at the moment, anything, I just want you to yell as loud and hard as you can.”

“This is stupid.” He huffs, glaring at Gavin who just smiles widely in return.

“Great! Keep going!”

“This whole idea is stupid. You’re stupid! Who the fuck are you anyways? You just fucking popped out of nowhere, I mean, what happened to the damn cops? Did they just leave me there to die after chasing off those dumbasses.” Something clicks. “It was you wasn’t it! Why the hell would you do that dumbass? You’re like a fucking twig! They would have crushed you!”

“It’s not like you were doing much better.” He teases, making him growl.

“Fuck you! I would have been fine. God, I hate those guys and people like them. Who the fuck are they to say what I’m fucking like!? Just because I looked pissed when you first meet me doesn’t mean I’m always like that numnuts. For Christ sake, get some common sense!” Michael finds his voice steadily rising with his anger, yet he can’t bring himself to care. “I’m really an awesome fucking guy, but would they know that? NO! They all fucking run away like I’m about to bite their head off before I even talk to them! And those who don’t run think it’s fun to poke the fucking bear with a stick and see who gets attacked first! And I always fall for it! Every. Single. Time. And it only makes people think I really am some maniac when I’m not! GOD DAMN IT! WHY CAN’T THEY GET THEIR HEADS OUT THEIR ASSES AND TRY A SIMPLE “HELLO” AND SEE WHERE THAT GET’S THEM!” Michael was screaming now. His face was a deep scarlet color and his body posture was tense and balled up. Every single emotion Michael had been bottling up and keeping to himself was now surfacing as he screamed right in Gavin’s face, but the British boy didn’t do a single thing. He just stood there and smiled and that just infuriated Michael even more. “WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU JUST TAKING THIS!? WHY AREN’T YOU SCARED!? I’M YELLING IN YOUR FACE LIKE A PYCHO PATH AND YOU JUST STAND THEIR, FUCKING SMILING LIKE “OH, LOOK AT ME, I’M SOME ETERNALY HAPPY BRITISH PERSON, PIP PIP CHERRIO! LET’S GO HAVE SOME TEA!”” Michael mocks.

“I told you before, Mi-Cool, I’m not scared of you.” He laughs and Michael flushes ten shades darker.

“WHY!? YOU SEE ME NOW! I’M YELLING AND SCREAMING AT THE FUCKING PERSON WHO SAVED MY ASS! YOU SHOULD LEAVE, YOU NEVER KNOW IF I MIGHT FUCKING ATTACK YOU!”

“I know you won’t.”

“I MIGHT! YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME GAVIN! I COULD BE A MURDER AND YOU WOULDN’T FUCKING KNOW!”

“That’s true,” he chuckles and smiles brightly at the enraged teen. “But I highly doubt you are, you donut.”

“ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT! ANY NORMAL PERSON WOULD HAVE RAN! THEY WOULD HAVE LEFT! THEY WOULND’T HAVE STAYED TO LISTEN TO ME YELL AND SCREAM! NO ONE EVER DOES! NO ONE EVER LISTENS! BUT YOU’RE STILL HERE! STANDING THEIR WITH YOUR STUPID FUCKING SMILE!”

“Now I’m sure someone’s listened.” Gavin says, expression softening. A strong emotion that isn’t anger over takes Michael. He feels his eyes sting and his throat burn as he clenches his fist and continues to yell.

“ **NO! NEVER! NO ONE’S EVER LISTENED! NOT EVEN MY MOTHER WILL TAKE TIME OUT OF HER SCHEDUAL TO LISTEN! SOMETIME ITS LIKE I’M JUST A FUCKING NUSCIENCE TO HER! WHY CAN’T SHE TAKE TWO FUCKING SECONDS OUT OF HER SCHEDUAL AND JUST LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!?** ” Hot tears were streaming down his face. By this time Michael had shut his eyes tightly and his face was looking at the floor as he continued to scream at the top of his lungs. “ **JUST LISTEN! THAT’S ALL I WANT! BUT NO MATTER HOW LOUD I AM SHE NEVER HEARS ME! NO ONE EVER HEARS ME! I COULD BE SCREAMING INTO A GOD DAMN MEGA PHONE AND STILL NO ONE WILL LISTEN. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY! AND FINALLY, IN THIS SCHOOL, I YELL AND PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION AND WHAT DO I GET!? PEOPLE LABLE ME AS A PYCHO, A DEMON! I’M DAMNED TO LIVE A LIFE WHERE NO ONE HEARS ME! WHERE EVERYONE IS DEF TO ME! AND WHEN THEY FINALLY HEAR MY LITTLE BUZZING IN THE CORNER, THEY MISCONSTRUDE IT AS ME BEING AND ANGRY MONSTER! IT’S NOT FAIR! I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO LISTEN! ANYONE! JUST LISTEN! WHY WON’T ANYONE-** ” He stops mid rant when he feels someone hugging him. Slowly he opens his eyes and sees Gavin holding him tightly, eyes clenched tightly and expression strong and determined.

“I’ll listen.” He says, and Michael can’t do much more than look up at the taller teen in pure shock. What the hell was this guy doing? “I’ll listen, Michael. You don’t have to yell or scream. No matter what, I’ll listen to you. I’ll be right here, and you can shout at me, push me, cry on me, anything. Just know that when you talk, I’ll be there to listen to you.” More tears began to stream down Michael’s cheeks at those words.

“Why?” He asks, voice hoarse from screaming and heavy from the emotions that were currently begging to be released. “We hardly know each other…why…”

“Because it’s a really sucky feeling having no one listen to you. It makes a person feel unloved, and lonely, and unwanted. No one should ever feel that way. I’m here. I’ll listen.” There was a long silence as Gavin statement seeps through. He would listen? Liar. That’s what his mother always said, yet she never even gave him half an ear to rant to. But…but Gavin had stayed. He had let Michael scream at his face, to the point he might have actually looked terrifying. Yet Gavin never ran away. He never said a single word to intentionally provoke Michael. He had honestly, in every sense of the word, listened to him. And that’s all he’s ever wanted.

Michael hugs Gavin back and grips his shirt as tightly as he can. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that.” He laughs, chocking on a sob as he buries his face into his shoulder.

“Aw, Mi-Cool, don’t say that!” Gavin laughs as well. They stay like that for god knows how long before Michael finally pulls himself together and steps back from Gavin. He wipes his eyes with the back of his sleeves and gives Gavin a warning look.

“No one ever hears about this, got it.” He smiles and gives a fake salute.

“Got it, Captin.” He smiles crookedly at Michael who laughs and smirks back at him.

“Dumbass,” his smiles drops a little and he looks off to the side awkwardly. “Hey Gavin, did you really mean what you said? About…about listening to me.” Gavin sends Michael an earnest smile and nods.

“Of course! Team Nice Dynamite, yeah?”

“What the hell is that suppose to mean?” Gavin laughs and hooks an arm around Michael’s shoulder.

“It’s going to be our team name!” Michael rolls his eyes, trying to look irritated but ending up smirking at the other in amusement.

“Our team name?”

“Yeah! You’ll be my little Mi-Cool and I’ll be you’re-”

“And you’ll be my boy.” He really was grinning now as he slings his arm over Gavin’s shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s top! Team Nice Dynamite!”

“Team Nice Dynamite!” Michael laughs.

Now that he has someone that will listen to him, maybe he won’t have to yell as much…

“Oh! Mi-Cool! What’s this? It’s freaking top! Oops!”

“Gavin, No!”

Or maybe not.


	3. Lost

Gavin enjoyed making people happy. A long time ago he had made it his mission to put a smile on every sad person’s face, and while he’s not always successful, he thinks he’s doing a damn good job so far. He had helped Ray, who was really quite funny and pretty amazing at any and all video games Gavin played with him. And then there was Michael, who was really rather calm, though he did have a shorter fuse than most. Gavin really didn’t mind, he always found it funny how exasperated and annoyed Michael got when Gavin sabotaged him while playing various games…maybe that was the reason Ray won all the time. Either way, both boys were happier, Gavin could tell. They both laughed and smiled more, instead of hanging out in their own little worlds, blocking out the rest of the world like it was their enemy. It made Gavin happy. As his alarm clock blares loudly in his ear he gets up and groggily makes his way to the bathroom. He quickly brushes his teeth and attempts to tame his hair. After a minute or two he gives up and walks back into his room where he starts getting dressed. He pulls on some shorts and a shirt when his phone buzzes notifying him to an incoming text message. Gavin walks over and checks it:

_“Dnt bother coming 2 school 2day, freak. No1 likes U!”        -Blocked Number_

The phone buzzed again.

_“Y dnt U go kill urself, it’s not like ny1 will miss u.”      -Blocked Number_

It buzzed once more.

_“God Ur voice is soooo annoying! Y dnt U stop tlking! Pls!”     -Blocked Number_

It buzzes for a final time.

_“Hey Gav, are you any good at chem.? I didn’t do my homework last night and I have no fucking clue what’s happening. I asked Ray but he’s being a dick and refuses to help me!”   - Mi-Cool_

Gavin smiles and laughs at his friend’s message with a fond shake of his head.

_“Why didn’t you do it at home you donut!?”  -You_

_“Because Mogar has better shit to do than identifying elements! Also, just got a new game and got too distracted to do it.”  - Mi-Cool_

_“*sigh* Fine, I’ll help. You’re lucky I’m so lovely to you XP”     -You_

_“Whatever idiot, see you at school.”   - Mi-Cool_

Gavin smiles down at his phone then erases all the messages from the block numbers. He throws on his jacket, as he never leaves his house without it, and heads to the kitchen. “What am I am the mood for today.” He hums, rifling through his cupboards in search for something quick for him to eat. His pocket vibrates and he takes it out to read the new message he’s received.

_“Hey dipshit, see you’ve put on some weight. Why don’t you cool it on the food fatty!”   -Blocked Number_

Gavin deletes the message and puts the phone back in his pocket. “I’m not really hungry today.” he says happily and closes the cupboard drawer. He grabs his back pack and keys and heads out into the Austin sun. After locking the door he heads down to the bottom floor and unlocks his bike from the rack so he can start pedaling to school. He gets there in fifteen minutes and heads over to the bike rack to lock up his bike. He hums lightly as he heads up the steps to the front of the school, but he trips as someone sticks their foot out in front of him. Everyone surrounding him laughs as he winces slightly when he gets up. He glances around at the mocking faces and feels a small knot of embarrassment start to form in the pit of his stomach but he quickly pushes that back as he smiles brightly again.

“Sorry Derek, didn’t see your foot there.” He says apologetically to the person who had tripped him.

“Yeah, watch where you’re going next time dumbass.” Everyone burst into another fit of giggles.

“Right,” Gavin says, nodding once in his direction then hurrying of into the school building, his smile still firmly in place. He heads over to his locker and opens it. The normal notes fall out,

_“Dumbass.”_

_“Loser.”_

_“No one likes you.”_

So he collects them and stuffs them in his back pack. After that’s taken care of he grabs the books he’ll need for his first few classes before heading to the library to meet Michael and Ray. On his journey there a few people knock roughly into him, one managing to knock him down on his backside, but he simply ignores them and hums happily all the way there. Once there he heads instinctively towards the back corner table that’s hidden behind a book shelf where he and his friends normally hang out before class.

“Hello lads!” He greets as he sits in the chair next to Michael.

“Morning Vav!” Ray replies cheerily while Michael manages a groggy grunt. Both Gavin and Ray laugh at their half asleep friend.

“Ah, is my little Mi-Cool still tired!” Gavin coos and Michael halfheartedly pushes him.

“Shut the fuck up Gavin,” he mumbles but yawns and stretches in attempt to wake himself up more. “Why the hell do you still have that jacket on? It’s like a hundred degrees outside and it’s only morning.” Michael asks glancing at what he was wearing.

“I stay really cold though,” Gavin laughs with a shrug. “So I just keep it with me just in case.” Michael gives him a slightly suspicious look but shrugs it off.

 “Whatever, you said you’d help with my home work right?” he asks as he reaches into his back pack and pulls out a folder, then proceeding to rifle through it until he finds the paper he’s looking for and places it between them. Gavin takes the paper and looks it over before nodding and assisting Michael with the problems he was unable to complete.

“See,” Gavin says, not too long later. “It isn’t that hard.”

“Whatever,” Michael says with a roll of the eyes and a small yawn. “Chemistry’s bullshit anyways.” Gavin laughs and shakes his head.

“You’re just saying that because you’re bad at it.” Michael smirks over at his friend.

“Damn straight.” All three of them laugh at that.

“Hey, we still on for some gaming at my place tonight?” Ray says after their laughter had subsided.

“Totally!” Michael grins wickedly. “I’m totally going to kick your ass this time Narvaez!” Ray laughs and smiles challengingly across the table at him.

“I’d like to see you try Jones.” Ray’s attention then turned to Gavin. “What about you Vav? You coming?”

 “Yeah, it’s going to be top!” He feels his phone vibrate in his pants. Discreetly as possible he pulls it out and checks the message.

_“Ur such @ loser!!!!! All U do is pl@y VGs all day! Get @ fcking life!!1!!”  -Blocked Number_

Gavin puts his phone back in his pocket, smile never wavering. “But I don’t think I can make it tonight.” Both boys look at him in confusion.

“What do you mean, you were all over it a few minutes ago.” Ray says, frowning at him. Gavin laughs and rubs the back of his in an embarrassed manner.

“Yeah, but I have a big test in math coming up and I really need to study.”

“So study Saturday or something, game night’s fucking sacred Gav!” Michael snaps with a furrow of his brows.

“I’m sorry guys, I really can’t this week.” Michael opens his mouth to argue his point further when the first bell of the morning rings. Gavin quickly pops out of his seat and grabs his bag before either could do anything about it. “I’ll see you at lunch guys!” He says with a large smile then hurries off to class. He reaches his English class with no incidents and takes his seat in the third row off to the right. He takes his seat and pulls out his composition book and the home work that was due today.

“Hey Free, thanks for doing my homework for me.” Says one of his class mates as they snatch his homework of his desk. Gavin blinks a few times and opens and closes his mouth rapidly.

“But that’s-”

“That’s what,” he challenges with a nasty scowl.

“Oh nothing, you’re welcome Blake.” He smiles, quickly backing down. The rest of that class went well, though the disappointed look the teacher gave him didn’t make him feel the best. This was the fifth time in a row he’d not done his home work on time after all. After English he had history, and that was… slightly more eventful. Every time the teacher would turn to face the board Gavin constantly felt wads of paper being tossed at the back of his head, though he didn’t acknowledge them until the teacher did.

“Gavin, why do you have a mess around your desk?” He asks stopping his patrol down the aisles to look at the mess around Gavin’s desk.

“Oh, uh,” Gavin laughs a little as he looks at the trash on the floor. “I keep messing up, and I’m writing in pen, so I’ve been crumpling the papers and setting them aside. Guess I didn’t realize how much they’ve piled up. Sorry, I’ll clean it up.” He slides out of his chair and drops to one knee so he can clean up the mess, all the while the teacher giving him a skeptical look.

“You could have just crossed out your mistakes, you know. I don’t mind if your paper is messy.” This caused a chorus of giggles from everyone in the class and Gavin’s face heats up a little.

“I know, just wanted it to look somewhat presentable” he laughs and shrugs. With all the paper balls in his arms he hurries to the trash can and dumps them in there. He returns to his seat and smiles up at his teacher.

“See, all clean now. Sorry about that, I’ll just keep the marks next time.” Once history was done he made his way to his favorite class, cinematography. He sits in his normal seat and pulls out his flash drive to plug into the computer and open up the project he’s been working on the past few weeks. He quickly sets to work and with about twenty minutes of class left, and the assignment due today, he finally completes his master piece. He sits back and admires his work, too caught up in the bliss of finishing it to save right away like he normally does.

“Hey Gavin,” someone says and taps his shoulder. Gavin looks around and smiles up at him. He doesn’t really know his name well, he was fairly new to the school, but from what Gavin could tell he seemed like a fairly nice guy.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Well, I noticed you’ve finished your project. And everyone says how great you are with this kind of stuff.” He starts, looking down at his feet shyly. Gavin’s eyes widen in surprise and a delighted smile graces his lips.

“They do?” The other smiles at him and nods his head.

“Yeah, they say you’re amazing! So I was wondering if you can come over and help me. I’m having some problems getting my sound to match the video.” Gavin pops up and nods his head.

“Sure thing mate! Show me where you’re sitting.” He smiles gratefully back at him and directs him over to the other side of the class room. Gavin’s only over there for a few minutes before he hears a loud gasp. Both him and the rest of the class look over to see what’s going on. Gavin’s senses are instantly on high alert as he sees a girl standing behind his computer with a look of horror on her face. Quickly, he leaves the computer he was working on to go back to his spot to investigate what had happened. “What’s wrong?” He asks when he gets closer to her. She looks at him with big watery blue eyes and shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Gavin looks at his computer to see all of his work gone, completely deleted from the program he was using. Gavin gives her a wavering smile.

“Don’t worry, it’s not too much work. And I’ve been saving it periodically so…” Gavin looks in the save file but can’t find his project anywhere. He frowns then tries searching for it by title, thinking maybe he’s just missed it. Still not seeing it, he pushes down a wave of panic and checks his flash drive. It’s still not there. He steps back from his computer and stares at it with mix emotions, not entirely sure what to do or say.

“What’s going on here?” Questions the teacher as she quickly makes her way over to Gavin and the girl.

“I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to see what Gavin did because I was completely stuck on my project and I know he’s so good at this stuff.” She sniffles, wiping at her eyes as she explains. The teacher hesitates and pats her shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m sure it’s fine. You saved it, right Gavin?”

“Yeah, but the save file is nowhere on the computer. It’s not even on my flash drive.” The teacher turns back to the girl.

“What did you do?”

“I don’t know. A lot of things started happening and I panicked and clicked a bunch of buttons. I didn’t know! I’m sorry!” Tears where flowing faster from her eyes now and Gavin couldn’t bring himself to be angry at her.

“It’s ok, I’m sure it’ll all turn out fine.” The girl stares at him with wide eyes then looks at the teacher.

“Really?” The teacher pinches her nose and nods her head.

“Yeah, just go back to your seat. I’ll talk to Gavin.” The girl smiles at them and Gavin returns one back to her. The teacher turns her back to her and faces Gavin. “I can’t give you as much time as you had on this project because you’ll get behind the rest of us. But I can delay you’re due date by about a week.” Gavin smiles gratefully and nods his head.

“Thank you Ma’am, that’s all I need.” She nods and walks back over to her desk. Gavin glances back over in the girl’s direction to see her, the boy he’d helped earlier, and several other students looking over at him with mocking smirks. The girl was no longer crying but instead stuck her tongue out at him and flipped him the bird while the guy he had helped gave him a wink and a shrug. Gavin smiled at the group while a bad feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. His phone vibrated and he pulled it out his pocket enough to read the message.

_“Ur so fckin’ gullible! Have fun restarting the entire project Gavy~ I’m sure it wnt be a problem cause ur sooooo “amazing” at this”     -Blocked Number_

Gavin slowly sits in his chair, smile still in place and ignoring that burning feeling in the back of his throat, as he pulls up various programs he’ll need to begin his project from scratch. Finally the lunch bell rang and Gavin hurries first to his locker,

_“We hate you.”_

_“Go die.”_

_“Stop talking.”_

then to the cafeteria to meet up with his friends. His friend’s were already there with their lunches when he arrives and he greets them with a large grin.

“Mi- Cool, X-Ray.” He greets as he sits down.

“Hey,” Michael greets around a mouthful of burger.

“Sup, Vav.” Ray pauses and looks at Gavin with a frown. “Where’s your lunch?”

“Huh? Oh!” Gavin laughs and shrugs, easily dismissing his friend. “I haven’t been hungry recently.”

“You need to eat Gav, you’re already skinny enough.” Michael says, shoving some fries into his mouth.

“No, really, I’m fine. I-” Michael takes the remainder of his fries and half of Ray’s and shoves them in the Brit’s face.

“Eat them.”

“But I’m-”

“Wasn’t a suggestion, now eat them.” Gavin pouts a little but takes them out of Michael’s hands and slowly starts eating them.

“Happy?” Gavin asks, shoving a few fries in his mouth obnoxiously. Michael snorts and smiles crookedly over at him.

“Immensely.” The group continues chatting and laughing, the subjects varying from video games to something stupid someone said in their last few classes.

“Hey, have you guys played slender before?” Ray was asking. Michael had already finished his lunch and between Ray and Gavin Ray’s tray was nearly cleared.

“Don’t even get me started on that game.” Michael ranted. “Gav and I played that game together not too long ago, never again.” Ray and Gavin laughed as Michael nudged his friend playfully.

“What happened?”

“Besides him screaming in my ear every two seconds? He had the attention span of a squirrel, like literally it was twenty minutes into the game before we finally stumbled upon a fucking note.” Gavin laughs and pokes Michael in the side.

“Aw, but I thought it was fun! Especially getting to flash the torch!” Michael sends him a playful glare, trying to mask his smirk.

“How many times do I have to tell you!? It’s a fucking flash light!”

“But it doesn’t flash Mi-” Gavin stops mid sentence as he feels something being poured over his head. He could feel the chunks of whatever was in their get tangled into his hair and a mixture of liquids drip from his bangs. The lunch room falls deathly quiet. Gavin gapes and blinks slowly as shock washes over him, both Michael and Ray staring at him in equal levels of surprise. Gavin turns to see two guys behind him smirking at him, one holding a bowl that once held the liquid and the other dumping the contents of his back pack out. That’s when the entire cafeteria burst into laughter. Gavin looks around him, seeing every one laugh and smile at him with malice etched across his features. Tears prick at his green eyes and this causes his tormentor’s smiles to broaden.

“Aw, is poor little Gavvy going to cry?” Mocked one.

“Here’s some tissues to wipe your poor little eyes.” teases another, shoving the notes that pile at the bottom of Gavin’s back pack every day into his arms. He looks down at them, then at the two guys in front of him, then finally at his friends. Michael’s face was quickly turning red with rage and Ray’s face was filled with concern as he looked straight into Gavin’s eyes.

“Gavin-”

“Um, I need to go to the restroom lads. I’ll…I’ll see you later.” He says, his voice cracking slightly, as he quickly throws his stuff into his back pack and runs out the room and into the nearest bathroom. After checking to make sure he was by himself he throws himself into a stall, locks it, and sits down with his back against the door. Hot tears stream down Gavin’s cheeks as he pulls his legs close to his chest and buries his face into his knees. Blindly he opens the smallest pocket and pulls out a small army knife and an old blood stained handkerchief. He picks his head back up and pulls up both sleeves, revealing his scar covered arm to the florescent light of the bathroom.

Gavin really enjoyed making people happy. A long time ago, when he watched from the side lines as his friend Dan spiral into depression and take his own life, he made it his mission to put a smile on every sad person’s face. At first he thought it would be easy, but his little bubble was popped when he realized how cruel and thoughtless the world really was. He now knows he can’t do anything to help people. Michael and Ray might be happy now, but how can he know that for sure, how can he know that he isn’t slowly losing them like he did with Dan. The truth is, no one can control how anyone feels. He can control this however.

Slowly, with an unsteady hand, Gavin brings the blade to his pale scared skin and presses down, cutting shallowly into the arm. Gavin winces at the stinging feeling but pushes himself to cut deeper. This was real pain, the feeling of blade on flesh, not that petty bullying. He’d nearly cried in front of everyone, and that would have been selfish of him. What he was going through couldn’t even be compared to the others, and the pain he felt as he continued to cut reminded him of that. He withdraws the blade and gazes at the scarlet liquid that was smeared on it. One more cut, then he’d have learned his lesson. Gavin slowly brings it back to his arm and presses, watching as small beads of blood appears where the knife touches his skin. He had started to slowly drag the blade across his arm when he hears the bathroom door open. He freezes and clamps a hand over his mouth to prevent his whimpering to give away his position.

“Vav, come out. I know you’re in here.” Gavin doesn’t say a word as he hears Ray slowly make his way into the bathroom. “Come out, please. Let’s talk about this, I’m sure it’ll make you feel better.” He could now hear him his push each door, searching for the locked one. Gavin clenches his eyes shut as he hears the footsteps grow nearer to him until finally the door he’s leaning against is nudged and Ray stops walking. “Gavin, I know that’s you. Open the door.” Gavin swallows hard, hoping this will clear his voice out enough, and laughs.

“I’m fine Ray, you really didn’t need to come. I told you guys earlier I wasn’t hungry, and now my stomachs not doing too well. I probably just have a bug, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I know you’re lying Gavin, just come out. Those guys are jerks, you shouldn’t let them bother you so much.”

“They’re just playing around like they always do, they didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“Didn’t mean any harm by it? Gavin, have you read these notes?” Ray asks, frown evident in his voice, as he shoves the papers that had previously been hidden in Gavin’s bag under the bath room stall door. Gavin doesn’t look at them, his gaze fixated on the scarlet trail that was forming down his arm.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously not nothing. Michael’s pissed, and when he read those notes he looked like he was ready to kill somebody.”

“What?” Gavin blinks in surprise, and shifts his body so it was now facing the door.

“Yeah, before I left he had already started yelling. I had to tell him not to kill anybody while I was out he looked so livid.” Ray laughs a little and Gavin does as well.

“He shouldn’t do that. You should go and calm him down.”

“You know you’re the only person who can calm him down when he’s like that. Besides, those ass holes deserve more than his rage anyways.” Gavin bites his lower lip and gently rubs his arms.

“Like I’ve said, it’s fine, I’m not bothered-”

**SLAM.**

Gavin jumps a bit as the bathroom door was slammed open.

“Gavin Fucking Free you get out of that damn stall this instant!” Michael yells, storming over to the stall Ray was in front of and slamming his fist against it.

“Mi-Cool, why did you yell at those people? You didn’t hurt anyone, did you?” He whines a little, still not budging from his spot.

“No! Those bastards are lucky all I did was scream at them! Bunch of cowards, they looked ready to shit themselves when I was done.” Gavin sighs and shakes his head.

“You shouldn’t have-”

“Bull shit I shouldn’t have! Now open this door on the count of three or I’ll break it down!”

“What! You wouldn’t-”

“One!”

“Mi-Cool, please don’t do that!”

“Two!”

“You’ll get in trouble if you-”

“Three!”

“Ok! Ok! I’m opening it!” Shrikes Gavin as he quickly throws the stall door open. Ray lets out a small gasp and Michael’s face goes through several different emotions before settling on one Gavin can’t quiet identify. “What are you staring at?” He asks nervously following their line of vision and emitting a small gasp of his own. He had forgotten to pull his sleeve down and his friends now saw the scars and smeared blood on his arm. He grabs his handkerchief and wraps it around his arm then quickly pulls his sleeves down. “Whoops,” he laughs nervously. “Pretend you didn’t see that, yeah.” Gavin and Michael’s eyes meet and Gavin slowly scoots back as he sees a familiar look in his brown irises.

“Gavin…”

“Michael, don’t!” But it was too late. The Jersey boy had grabbed both of his arms and had pushed the sleeves up as far as he could get them to go.

“Gavin…why would you…?” Ray trails off in a soft voice. He gently takes the blood stained one from Michael and uses the handkerchief to clean it off. Gavin doesn’t say anything for a long time as he watches him clean his arm, Ray having run to the sink to wet the cloth before coming back and getting rid of the dried blood.  Michael sits behind Ray, watching Gavin’s face like a hawk, his eyes never wavering.

“It started about a year or so ago,” he says softly. Neither Ray nor Michael makes any indication of have heard Gavin, but he knows for a fact they’re listening just as intently as he would them. “I was still living in England at the time. It was after…well…I used to have this friend Dan. We’d known each other from birth, and he truly was my best friend but…I guess I never really knew what triggered it, but Dan started getting depressed. I noticed it, but I just…I didn’t know what to do to help him. He kept saying he was ok, when he clearly wasn’t, but I just let it slide and figured it’d all turn out better in the end. But it didn’t. It got worse. And then one day, I came over to his house, and his mum said he was in his room still sleeping, and when I went to go wake him up…” Gavin chocked on the next words, unable to get them out. There was a long silence, and Ray and Michael didn’t push him to continue. “I blamed myself. And every day I passed Dan’s house I was tormented by his memory and the guilt that I could have saved him. My parents saw what this was doing to me so they sent me to live with an aunt here in Austin. I lived with her for a little while, but I could tell my crappy mood was bringing her down as well, and I didn’t want to be the blame for another’s person’s downfall, so I got my own apartment. And one night, when I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, I decided I wouldn’t stand by and let another person be sad. I was really determined, and throughout the summer I helped the others in my complex or around in town. I was really confident in myself, and started to be genuinely happy again by the time school finally arrived. But then…well…I’m sure you could tell what happened. This school isn’t very kind to people who are new or different…

“And I started to get depressed again. And it grew harder and harder to smile. And I started losing my will to live, and that’s what made me think of Dan, ff how I was being selfish. This was just some bullying, why is this bringing me down so much. I could be going through worse. That’s what made me start cutting. Because most days I can go by with a smile, but then there are those days were I feel like breaking down, and I can’t stand myself being so selfish, so I cut to remind myself that there’s worse pain out there. So you guys really don’t have to worry.” He was crying at this point, though he forced himself to smile anyways. “This…this is just a moment of weakness. But I’m better. I’ve already punished myself for being so silly, so please just…” Michael bats the back of Gavin’s head and scowls.

“You idiot.” Gavin looks at him with wide confused eyes.

“I don’t understand…”

“You’re an idiot! How can you think that what you have to go through because of the dumbasses in our school isn’t real pain? It hurts just as much as you fucking cutting yourself, that’s for sure!”

“But I-”

“Michael’s right, Gavin” Ray cuts in, in a more calm manner. “I mean, look at us. You came to our rescue when we were both at our breaking point. And you know very well what caused it. Saying that the bullying isn’t hurtful is just like spitting at all the angst we had to go through.” Gavin shakes his head desperately and looks between the two.

“That’s not what I meant though!”

“We realize that, but you get our point, right? Bullying hurts Gavin, it’s ok to admit that.”

“I…it’s…”

“Gavin, shut the fuck up for a second and listen to yourself. You’re contradicting yourself. How is it ok for us to be hurt by this and not you? We’re all human, it’s ok.” His green eyes looked at them with a confused and lost expression, as if everything he had convinced himself was the truth was shattering right before his eyes. “Remember what you told me? How’d you’d always be there to listen?”

“And how you told me that now that we’re friend’s that I can lean on you?”

“Well this isn’t some one way road. You can count on us too buddy. We’re here for you just like you are for us. So just tell us how you feel.” Gavin laughs humorlessly and wipes at his tears with the back of his hand.

“How will that help anything?” Michael smirks.

“I’m not sure what this will accomplish but maybe it’ll make you feel better.” He says, faking Gavin’s accent. Gavin laughs and tears leek from his eyes at a heavier rate.

“Wonder who said that.” He comments softly, making Michael laugh.

“Yeah, who indeed.” Gavin bites his lips and clenches his eyes closed tightly, pushing back the flood of emotions that were over whelming him.

“Gavin.” He opens his eyes and looks over at Ray who was smiling at him.

“It’s ok. Where’re here. You’ve done a good job, but now it’s your turn.” And with that Gavin broke down. His friends quickly hug him and pull him in close as he dissolves into a sniveling mess. Gavin grips tightly onto both of them and buries his face between the two of them. They stay like that long after the lunch bell rang and even a bit longer after that. They pull apart and Gavin smiles and laughs shakily at his friends who smile and laugh in turn.

They went to the principal’s office and explained everything that happened, even going further to tell him how it happened to both Michael and Ray as well. He was rightfully appalled by what was happening in his halls and swore he’d change that behavior right away. The bullying definitely didn’t stop, but it did lighten tremendously due to the schools efforts to eradicate it. And now Gavin didn’t have to force a smile on his face. Because when he’d have enough he’d have Ray there to make him laugh again and Michael there to fend off people’s mean comments. And while Gavin still enjoyed putting smiles on other’s people’s faces, he’s found that he likes it just as much when people put a smile on his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter, I hope you all liked it! It seems I have a bad habit of making Gavin cry....I think i'm going to go write something fluffy now ^_^".
> 
> Based off the song "People Like Us" by Kelly Clarkson if anyone was wondering.


End file.
